Sealing means for the piston of a gasholder



March 20, 1945. E E ETAL 2,371,966

' SEALING MEANS FOR THE PISTON OF A GASHOLDER Filed Marcki 51, 1942 :sSheets-Sheet 1 March 20, I945. H. H. LIESE ETAL 2,371,966

I SEALING MEANS FOR THE PISTON OF A GASHOLDER Filed Maz ch 31, 1942 F.TL F" INV R:

x z-wa awu 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 20, 1945. H. 'LIESE ET AL 2,371,966SEALING MEANS FOR THE PISTON OF A GASHOLDER I Filed March 31,- 1942' 3Sheets-sheaf. s

between the piston and the limits for maintaining Patented Mar. 20, 1945UNITED STAT-ES PArEN jcr t cs.) SEALING McANsmn THEPI-STONOF A"GASHOLDER Herman H. LieSe and HerbertfC,Brinkman, Cim cinnati, Ohio,assignors to The Stacey Bros. Gas

Construction Company,

corporation of Ohio Cincinnati, Ohio, a

Application March 31, 1942,.seria1 No. 43mins i Claim. (01. 48-176) Thisinvention relates to gasholders of the type including a verticallytranslatable piston or deck within a reservoir, which piston functionsas a proved arrangement of' the weightspthat weep-4 perand lower packingringsmove more freely movable top closure for the gas contained in thereservoir tank. The gas isconfined in the space closed base of :theholder and the piston, by its. weight, maintains the gas under pressure,and vertically adjusts but is free to shift from a for accommodating thegas supply contained in H the reservoir. This type of'gasholder is commercially identifiedfas a waterless'gasholder; I

The present invention is concerned with improvements in the constructionof. the sealing unit for the pistonand inthe means which holds thesealing unit outwardly against the holder wall. The'sealing unitconventionally includes an ar-' rangem'ent of one or several packingrings asin a horizontal direction and act more independentl'y' -of eachother than-has, been the case heretofore. The sealing unit is not onlydilatable;

contact,.:within reasonable limits, to accomodate displacements oftheholder wall from a verticalline, in other words, the arrangementofthe contact leversis such that the packingmay tip slightly whennecessary .andall of the packingrings will still remain in h mer wan.

contact with the It has been a further object 10f the present inventorsto provide an improved means for hanging or suspending the sealingun't-relative to the sembled in such manner as to be dilatable. Meanshave been provided for constantly urging or forcing this dilatable unitoutwardly under pressure against the wall of the holder under theinfluence of weights which are effective against,

the unit throughlevers. r g

In the past, these packing rings have been supported upon a sheet metalring, which ringin cluded vertically disposed flutes or ribs, or whichwas made up of sections securedtogether or lying in abutment. Thus, the.ring coulddilate eitherin contractive or expansive movement and couldbend to any irregular shape within reasonable the. mechanical seal orpacking ring inuniform and positive contact with the wall of the holderthroughout the entire inner circumference thereof.

It has been the object of the present inventors to provide forthe pistonof a gasholder of this type, whereby the sealing unit has increasedflexibility or elas-' ticity and wherein the packing rings more readilyadjust to irregularities in the contour of'the holder wall. Toward thisend, the packing rings are assembled upon vertically disposed platesecspaced tions and these plate sections are slightly so as to beindependently movable relative to each other.

It has been a further object of the present inventors to provide animproved arrangement of the weighted levers relative to the sealing unitwhereby these weighted levers, through contact means, engage the ringplate sections at different elevations and wherein each section isengaged at two or more levels; as for example, toward the top and bottomof the sealing unit assembly.

Thus, it-has been provided, through an im impromevements in the sealingunit piston, whereby there is .nointerference with the action of theweighted levers intheir-iunctionof moving the sealing wunit radially.

Other objects and certain advantagespi the inventionwill be more fullyapparent from the following description iof the drawingsin which:

cylinder w'all.

'ing and I arrangement Figure l is a fragmentary vertical sectionalthrough one side of afgasview taken radially holdertank, illustrating 2.por o s: thepiston and showing the packing. rings and their -sup.porting means relative to .the piston and-the,

Figure 2 is' a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 2 2.,.Fig-ure 1,illustrating a portion, of; the dilatable sealing ring.

Figure 3 isa sectional view packing or sealing ring and illustrating thearrangement of the. wei hts relative thereto.-

Figure 4 is a general whichfengage thepacki'ng or sealing unit.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary outside viewcf a portion of the seal unitshowingone 10f the han r or'suspension means.

Generallyspeaking, the construction. in which the present improvementsare incorporated pro.

vides a sealing unit including packing or sealing; v

ringsa'nda flexible dilatable ring made up of circumferentially arrangedsheet metal plate sections enga ed'by weighted levers for the purpose ofproviding efficient sealing contact of the sealingrings-with the holderwall. The

present improvementsrelateprimarily to the arrangement of the weightedlevers and they means for causing these weightedleversto engagefthepacking ring assembly uniiormlyfor; urging it outwardly-against theholderwall:

strictly vertical line of taken onfline 3-9-3. Figure'l, furtherillustrating a portion of the perspective view looking upward at anangle and illustrating the mount-: of the weighted levers Referring tothe drawings, the wall of the tank or holder is indicated at I and thedeck of piston at II. A superstructure, generally indicated at I2 isprovided as a part of the outer edge structure of the piston. Thissuperstructure carries the sealing unit generally indicated at I3. Thesealing unit is fabricated of sealing rings I 4, the supporting platesections I5, and

certain other assembly elements hereinafter described.

It is hot believed necessary to describe the structure of the pistonexact detail. These parts are only described to the extent believednecessary to mounting and environment of the sealing unit improvement ofthis invention.

The piston proper may be stated to comprise a-fabricated structure onwhich plates are provided to make up a cup-shaped piston. The margin ofthe piston incorporates circumferentiallyarranged I beams I6. A seriesof vertically disposed I beams II rise above and are supported on theseI beams I 6. Appropriate bracing is provided between the vertical Ibeams and the piston,

but it is believed unnecessary to illustrate such bracing.

The uprights I I are joined by angle iron and channel iron elementsI8-I8as well as horizontally disposed I beams I8a, extending around the topof the uprights. Together, these elements form a vertical framestructure which supports a plurality of circumferentially arrangedrollers I9 mounted on brackets attached to the outer angle iron elementsIii-I8 and the I beams I to respectively. The rollers I9 engage theinner wall of the shell and form the guiding means for the piston; morespecifically, the means for preventing tilting of the piston. I

The sealing unit I3 is supported or suspended from the outer ends ofradiallyi disposed, circumferentially arranged support arms, 2I, bymeans of straps or hangers 22. These arms are fixed to the uprightgirder I1 or to the undersides of the pins 23 (Figure 5). The lower endsof the hanger straps include loop elements 24. Each strap has a hangerbar 25 traversing its particular loop, which bar is extended an equaldistance from either side of the hanger. The ends of this attached tothe assembly draw bolts 26 of the sealing unit by means of yoke Thelower ends of the yokes conupper ends of the draw bolts 26 and theirupper ends are bifurcated for straddling the ends of the suspension bar.

The sealing rings I4 of ranged V by means of outwardly facing channeliron elements 28 being engaged against its upper and lower flangesrespectively. The seal rings are adapted to provide continuousengagement with the inner wall of the holdershell. The upper and lowerflanges of the channel iron do not extend outwardly as far as the ringsand therefore,- do not contact the wall of the holder.

The space within the channel iron is supplied and its superstructure inI 26 are provided These angle irons upper and lower whereby the sealingring are clamped upon the channel iron member. Each of the plates I5 areheld in position upon the ring asdispo'sed flanges of the respectivefabric seal ring 3|,

angle irons. A consisting of a sheet of matherefrom for attachment to acircumferentially arranged anchorage rail 32. The attachment of thefabric seal ring to the rail 32 is such as to provide fullness in thefabric seal ring as indicated at 33. Thus, a certain amount of freemovement is permitted with respect to the piston.

Aseries of projected stop elements outwardly radially from are securedto the underside of the elements I8. the upper edge of the sealing unitand normally clear the sealing unit so as not to interfere with itsflexibility and freedom of movement.

The invention, as stated, provides an improved means for urging thesealing unit outwardly, uniformly against the holder wall. For thispurpose, each of the plates I5 includes a contact element 31-3l at theupper and lower ends respectively. The pressure applying means engagingthese con tact rails are staggered so as to exert the pressureagainst'both the upper and lower ends of the Weighted levers areemployed. Weighted levers are practically the same except for the levelof their mounting and contact with the rails. I

The pivotal attachment means for one set consists of short, slightlyspaced plates 38 welded to the underside and then turns downsubstantially at right angles or vertically to constitute an extension4!. The base of the extension includes a horizontally extended foot thebar with the bar held on the pin by means of a plate 45. The outer endsof the bar include bifurcated arms 46 carrying rollers 47 therebertween. The roller are mounted on horizontal axes and engage the innervertical edges of the rails 36.

The staggered arrangement of these bars is best illustrated in Figure 4.The contact means, just described, engages the upper ends of adjacentrails. The other contact means, the bars of which are indicated at 48,engage the adjacent rail of the sets engaged by the upper bars 44. Sincethese bars 48 are disposed at the lower plane, the fulcrum points fortheir levers 49 are lower than the fulcrum points for the levers 4B andthe supporting members 50 therefore extend downward a greater distancefrom the plate 35. The arms 49 are straight and extend into the sameplane as the tween them, which spaces are traversed by the arms.

The arrangement of the contact bars is best illustrated in Figure 4. Itwill be evident from the view that the sealing unit will tip from astrictly vertical plane to adjust to a corresponding variation in thenormally vertical line of the tank wall. As a result of this, both setsof packing rings are kept in contact with the holder wall.

The ring is not only dilatable for adjustment to variations in thecircular contour of the tank wall but is adjustable to accommodatevertical disalignment.

Having described our invention, We claim:

Weights 5| at their free or plates segmentally arranged backing up eachof p A sealing mechanism for a waterless type of gashoider in which apiston is disposed within a. shell and the gas is stored between thepiston and the base of the holder within the shell so that the pistonrises and falls in response to variations in the amount of gas beingstored, said sealing mechanism comprising two flexible packing ringsspaced apart vertically andadapted to be pressed outwardly against theinner wall of the holder, 2. flexible gas-tight connection between thepacking rings and the piston, a series of the vertically spaced packingrings, rigid elements backing up said plates, said rigid elementsadapted to press said plates outwardly and thus force the packing ringsinto contact with the inner wall of the shell, said rigid elements beingalternately disposed at an upper level and a lower level so that eachplate is pressed outwardly at two points one above the other andpressure means alternately disposed at an upper level and a lower levelpressing against the rigid elements backing up the plates.

HERMAN H. LIESE.

HERBERT C. BRINKMAN.

